Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is an integral part of a city rich with a history of important composers and performers. The incomparable orchestra is joined by maestro Franz Welser- Möst for an exploration of enduring scores by influential composers from their native land and a contemporary work from a composer who is creating in Vienna today. The program includes Bruckner’s magnificent and genial Sixth Symphony and Mozart’s Symphony No. 28, paired with Johannes Maria Staud’s On Comparative Meteorology.

The contemporary work on this program is part of My Time, My Music.

Performers

Vienna Philharmonic OrchestraFranz Welser-Möst, Conductor

Program

MOZART Symphony No. 28

JOHANNES MARIA STAUD On Comparative Meteorology

BRUCKNER Symphony No. 6

Event Duration

The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.

Bios

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

There is perhaps no other musical ensemble more consistently and closely associated with
the history and tradition of European classical music than the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra (VPO). In the course of its 172-year history, the musicians of this most
prominent orchestra of the capital city of music have been an integral part of a musical
epoch that-thanks to an abundance of uniquely gifted composers and interpreters-must
certainly be regarded as unique. Additionally, the orchestra's extensive touring schedule,
prolific recordings, and global television broadcasts allow its artistry to be experienced
around the world.

The orchestra's close association with this rich musical history is best illustrated by the
statements of countless preeminent musical personalities of the past. Richard Wagner
described the orchestra as being one of the most outstanding in the world; Anton Bruckner
called it "the most superior musical association"; Johannes Brahms counted himself a
"friend and admirer"; Gustav Mahler claimed to be joined together through "the bonds of
musical art"; and Richard Strauss summarized these sentiments by saying, "All praise of the
Vienna Philharmonic reveals itself as understatement."

The Vienna State Opera Orchestra holds a special relationship with the private association
known as the Vienna Philharmonic. In accordance with Philharmonic statutes, only a member
of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra can become a member of the Vienna Philharmonic. The
engagement in the Vienna State Opera Orchestra provides the musicians a financial stability
that would be impossible to attain without relinquishing their autonomy to private or
corporate sponsors. Over the course of more than a century and a half, this chosen path of
democratic self-administration has experienced slight modifications, but has never been
substantially altered. The foremost ruling body of the organization is the orchestra
itself.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's mission is to communicate the humanitarian message of
music into the daily lives and consciousness of its listeners. For more than a decade, the
VPO has given benefit concerts in support of humanitarian causes around the world, and
since 1999, it makes an annual donation of 100,000 Euros from its New Year's Concert to a
variety of international charitable organizations. In 2005, the orchestra was named
Goodwill Ambassador for the World Health Organization, and has served as an official
Goodwill Ambassador for IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis) since
2012. Since 2008, Rolex has been the Exclusive Sponsor of the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra. The musicians endeavor to implement the motto with which Ludwig van Beethoven,
whose symphonic works served as a catalyst for the creation of the orchestra, prefaced his
Missa solemnis: "From the heart, to the heart."

Franz Welser-Möst

One of today's most celebrated conductors, Franz Welser-Möst leads two of the world's great
cultural institutions, as general music director of the Vienna State Opera and music
director of The Cleveland Orchestra.

Mr. Welser-Möst's long partnership with the Vienna State Opera has included several
acclaimed new productions, with a focus on German as well as Italian and Slavic operas and
the cultivation of traditional and new repertoires and innovative projects. In his first
two seasons as general music director, he conducted the critically praised new productions
of Hindemith's Cardillac, Janáček's Káťa Kabanová and From the House
of the Dead, and Verdi's Don Carlo. During the 2013-2014 season, he leads new
productions of Puccini's La fanciulla del West and Janáček's The Cunning
Little Vixen; revivals of last season's acclaimed stagings of Wagner's Tristan und
Isolde and Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos; and the company's longstanding major
productions of Fidelio, Parsifal, La bohème, and Der
Rosenkavalier. In summer 2014, he will conduct Der Rosenkavalier at the
Salzburg Festival.The 2013-2014 season also marks Mr. Welser-Möst's 12th year with The Cleveland
Orchestra, a relationship that in 2008 was extended through the orchestra's centennial year
in 2018. With the orchestra, he has built close relationships with Carnegie Hall and
Lincoln Center, giving performances of Bruckner symphonies in 2011 and Strauss's Salome in
2012 that achieved outstanding success. He and the orchestra also hold regular
residencies at Vienna's Musikverein, at the Salzburg and Lucerne festivals, and in
Miami.

As a guest conductor, Mr. Welser-Möst enjoys an exceptionally close and productive
relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2013, he had the honor of
leading the orchestra's celebrated New Year's Concert for the second time in three years.
Recordings of both appearances have reached double-platinum status. He has also performed
with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg and Lucerne festivals, the BBC Proms, Tokyo's
Suntory Hall, the Sommernachtskonzert at Schönbrunn Palace, and on a regular basis as part
of the orchestra's subscription series at the Musikverein.

Mr. Welser-Möst's recordings, both on CD and DVD, have won a number of major awards,
including the Gramophone Award, Diapason d'Or, Japanese Record Academy Award, and two
Grammy nominations. He is the recipient of many honors, including honorary membership in
the Wiener Singverein and Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, the Gold Medal of Upper
Austria, the Decoration of Honor from the Republic of Austria, and the Kilenyi Medal of
Honour from the Bruckner Society of America. He was named Conductor of the Year by Musical
America in 2003, and is an Academician of the European Academy of Yuste.

Audio

Bruckner's Symphony No. 6 (Scherzo)

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra | Horst Stein, Conductor

Denon

At a Glance

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Symphony No. 28 in C Major, K. 200

As he reached his late teens, Mozart suddenly grew into a potent and masterful symphonist. The Symphony No. 28 in C Major, though rarely played today, is one of the finest of these early symphonies. It is something of an undiscovered jewel among his works, with four movements of outstanding quality and variety.

JOHANNES MARIA STAUD On Comparative Meteorology

Young Austrian composer Johannes Maria Staud says his music springs from "all kinds of influences, from literature to visual arts, from philosophy to science ... from conversations with friends to rambling in nature ... As a composer, you go through life with open antennas." His orchestral showpiece On Comparative Meteorology was inspired by Staud's passion for the surreal stories of Bruno Schulz, who created "a bizarre world ... with a hyper-realistic language of incomparable colorfulness."

ANTON BRUCKNER Symphony No. 6 in A Major

Although he was labeled by his contemporaries "the Wagner symphonist," Bruckner's symphonies are actually the farthest thing from the Romantic/Wagnerian celebration of self. Instead, they are spiritual quests and homages to God, in whom he fervently believed and whom he sought to glorify in his music. The Sixth Symphony is one of his loveliest and most melodious works, one filled with memories of his rural Austrian homeland.